Yay snow...NOT!

today, on any given day, many people work from home or the field, so it would seem that with foul weather, there would be even less at work.

When one thinks about it, there are multiple accidents on sunny days with dry pavement....snow and sleet doesn't help matters....who is there to support at work today?

The governor has issued a state of emergency here in PA. No one is permitted out on the road unless it is absolutely necessary. We are in the "ground Zero" blizzard zone here in northeast PA with 20 - 30" predicted!

Now would be a good time to mention the light dusting we got here in the Carolinas that only melted away completely after a few hours.

I know, it's @ DQ!

Just to update on Winter Storm Stella. It's not snowing in Florida yet but we did have some wind and rain.

I remember my first drive after a blizzard was no cakewalk.

As long as there are patients, data needs to flow and someone capable of repairing any outage needs to be available.

I understand your situation camerabob. Before retiring I was the network administrator for an organization that supplied ISP connections to education institutions in a 7 county area. I ended up staying overnight at work or going in early before a storm hit more than once. And of course, a reliable hospital network is even more critical than what I was responsible for. Thanks for your dedication.

Stayed home from work today. The storm track was more inland than predicted and only got about 7 inches of snow in Union Mills Md. Could have been a lot worse. Can’t wait for spring

was wet and heavy, but again, the roads are now cleared and wet. Seems to be snowing again.

I grew up in New England and 24" of new snow meant we were in our RWD cars going up to Killington, with chains. I think times have changed, and today, precipitation means stay home. Not a joke. Because as mentioned, on dry, sunny and clear days, there are multiple accidents, sometimes mini pileups. I think it's a combination of lessening skills, and distractions. The most overconfident of the bunch are the AWD soccer mom cars with all season tires.

I was released early from work due to the lack of snow emergency... That being said, I get home to a 3-4" pile of mush in my driveway. My snow thrower turned into a slush chucker and I powered through the better part of my driveway before the blower got sick of the slush. (as well as me) Cleanup took less than an hour and I was inside enjoying doing nothing and catching up on the sleep I was deprived of last night. So not accustomed to getting up at 3:30 in the morning...

Here in the Pittsburgh area the weather warnings were flying and people were crowding the Giant Eagle to stock up on eggs milk and toilet paper. We ended up with nothing but snow flurries.

No complaints, but way over-hyped.

Government agencies often cannot win - they are accused of "overreacting" when a possible disaster fizzles out, or condemned for "being unprepared" when something bad happens.

But one of the basic principles of emergency preparedness is "Plan for the Worst... Hope for the Best" I have been involved with emergency response to a number of floods and wildfires (but only a couple of blizzards), and I'm always happy when we dodge a bullet.

We were to get 12 - 18 inches of the white stuff, but we were close to a snow/sleet/rain line so could get less.

What we ended up with was a little ice under a few inches of snow topped off with a couple inches sleet/ice. An ice/snow/ice sandwich. I think the 12 inches of snow would have been better (did I really just say that?)

Clean-up yesterday after the storm was a bear, very very heavy and hard to scrape down to the concrete.

It's even worse this morning, the semi-hard mess that was left yesterday by plows left a wall that a bricklayer would be proud of. Not going to go above freezing today so anywhere there was snow yesterday has a solid few inch layer of ice on top that will be here awhile.

Golf cleats are going to be the best footwear out there today.

The National Weather service forecast between 20 and 30" of snow here in northeast PA. I reported in with 24.8"

I knew that the temps were going to be in the freezing area for the better part of the next 7 days, so I strove to clean up as well as I could. On the way into work, there were many people trying to clear snow (ice now, really) with plastic shovels and ice scrapers. Also trying to get their cars over the plow mounds. That stuff is like concrete. They were having no joy. I hope they enjoyed movie night in last night... You know what they say about payback... And mother nature pays well!

we got 6" yesterday, looked like roads cleared by noon....schools closed today. In my day, no, we didn't walk uphill barefoot both directions.

But, if the school bus was waiting, we sprinted as fast as we could for it. The bus driver could lecture us and tell us she (Mrs. Kendall) was going to drive right past if we're late the next day. I have seen a school bus holding up a major road (Rt. 1), both directions, while a kid casually strolled up.

So yes, everything is conservative today.

Oh yeah, pet peeve--I think it's time we started enforcing when folks do not clean their cars and simply drive, you know, 6" sheets of ice falling off at highway speeds, nothing but a tiny hole out the rear glass to see, etc.

Everything is closed today, from small businesses, etc., in Phila. Sometimes I wonder about the work ethic lol

Anyway, I had bought a RWD used car in Oct., and gotten new Michelin snow tires. Finally, I had a chance to use it the day after the whopping 6", driving through West Philly. Really poor job of clearing the snow, almost 24 hours after it stopped. This ain't New England or Montréal, that's for sure.

Everywhere is closed so they don't get sued by people falling on untreated sidewalks and roads.

We must live near one another johnatash, I'm in DELCO just outside of West Philly.

I've worked for companies that plow state and city streets, Philadelphia has 2,525 miles of streets and highways to take care of, not including roads the state is responsible for, a lot of that very small and narrow streets. I remember a storm years ago they had full size tri-axle trucks trying to clear snow in south Philly. I was driving one, a 9 foot wide plow going down a street with cars parked on both sides, I had a guy pushing mirrors in as I inched down the street.

The state and city hire a lot of private contractors to help with plowing and salting and with a hard hitting storm it's nearly impossible to keep ahead of it. best that can be done is keep the major routes passable until the storm ends and then work on clearing it up. The storm yesterday snow/sleet/rain and rapidly dropping temps after was one of those storms, the amounts weren't very high, but nearly impossible to clear before it all froze solid. It's not as easy as folks who have one driveway/sidewalk to clear think it is.

Thanks for telling things from the other side. It made me think back to living in NY--they used to do a phenomenal job of clearing the Thruway. Then, I remember them saying how there used to be two men in the truck, and they eliminated one of the two. so the trucks could not get as close to the edge as they once did, when they sent 2-3 trucks along the highway, and service suffered. I drove along Woodbine Blvd. this AM, and it was terrible....even Belmont was no picnic. If you can imagine the traffic who use this route in the morning, there ought to be RLCs both on Belmont and Woodbine, and again at Belmont and Montgomery--red light runners by the score, unless a Trooper is coming down Belmont and getting onto 76E....

It seems like this city is experiencing gentrification, maybe a decade later....I hope the mentality keeps up with it....

Here's what it can look like from inside a snow plow in a wet windy snow ... I had just turned off of I-76 onto northbound US 1.

Driver's side windshield:

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x101/soberbyker/20140103_...

Passenger side:

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x101/soberbyker/20140103_...

.

Damn...

I could have had someone lying on the hood wiping the glass and it wouldn't have been much better.

The trouble was it was a very slushy snow thanks to the salt already put down, but it was so cold and windy it would freeze again fairly quick, when the plow pushes the snow the wind picked it up and threw it back to the truck. The wipers would ice over, it was too cold for the washer washer fluid to work.

You can't win in a storm like that, one direction you head into the wind and end up with a windshield like the photos, when you make the return trip, in the direction of the wind, the defrosters melt the wipers and you end up with black streaks on the windshield.

This, among many other reasons, is why I no longer plow snow.

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